CHAPTER FIVE
Danny spun around. Standing there among the trees was Joe Tenny, grinning broadly at him.
“Did you ever stop to think that the fence might be carrying ten thousand volts of electricity?” Joe asked.
Danny’s mouth dropped open. Without thinking about it, he took a step back from the fence.
Joe walked past him and reached a hand out to the wire fence, “Relax, it’s not ‘hot.’ We wouldn’t want anybody to get hurt.”
Danny felt his chest tighten up again. Suddenly it was so hard to breathe that he could hardly talk. “How… how’d you… know…?”
“I told you the Center was escape-proof. SPECS has been watching you every step of the way. You crossed at least eight different alarm lines…. No, you can’t see them. But they’re there. SPECS called me as soon as you started out through the woods. I hustled down here to stop you.”
He’s big but but he’s old, Danny thought. Getting fat. If I can knock him down and get across the fence…
“Okay, come on back now,” Joe was saying.
Danny aimed a savage kick below Joe’s belt. But it never landed. Instead he felt himself swept up, saw the highway and then the cloudy sky flash past his eyes, and then landed face-down on the damp grass. Hard.
“Forget it, kid,” Joe said from somewhere above him. “You’re too small and I’m too good a wrestler. I’m part Turk, you know.”
Danny tried to get up. He tried to get his knees under his body and push himself off the ground. But he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. Everything was black, smelled of wet leaves. He was choking…
He opened his eyes and saw a green curtain in front of him. Blinking, Danny slowly realized that he was in a hospital bed. It was cranked up to a sitting position.
Joe Tenny was sitting beside the bed, his face very serious.
“You okay?” Joe asked.
Danny nodded. “Yeah… I think so…”
“You scared me! I thought I had really hurt you. The doctors say it’s asthma. How long have you had it?”
“Had what?”
Joe pulled his chair up closer. “Asthma. How long have you had trouble breathing?”
Danny took a deep breath. His chest felt okay again. Better than okay. It had never felt this good.
“It comes and goes,” he said. “Hits when I’m working hard… running… things like that.”
“And not a sign of it showed up in your physical exams,” Joe muttered. “How old were you when it first hit you?”
“I don’t know. What difference does it make?”
“How old?” Joe repeated. His voice wasn’t any louder, but it somehow seemed ten times stronger than before.
Danny turned his head away from Joe’s intense stare. “Five, maybe six.” Then he remembered. “It was the year my father died. I was five.”
Joe grunted. “Okay. The doctors need to know.”
“I thought you was a doctor,” Danny said, turning back to him.
Tenny smiled. “I am, but not a medical doctor. I’m a doctor of engineering. Been a teacher a good part of my life.”
“Oh…”
“You don’t think much of teachers? Well, I don’t blame you much.”
Joe got up from his chair.
Danny looked around. The bed was screened off on three sides by the green curtain. The fourth side, the head of the bed, was against a wall.
“Where am I? How long I been here?” he asked.
“In the Center’s hospital. You’ve been here about six hours. It’s past dinnertime.”
“I figured I’d be back home by now,” Danny mumbled.
Joe looked down at him. “You’ve had a rough first day. But you’ve made it rough on yourself. Listen… there’s a lot I could tell you about the Center. But I think it’s better for you to find out things for yourself. All I want you to understand right now is one thing: around here, you’ll get what you earn. Understand that? For the first time in your life, you’re going to get exactly what you earn.”
Danny frowned.
“It works both ways,” Joe went on. “Make life rough for yourself and you’ll earn trouble. Work hard, and you’ll earn yourself an open door to the outside. You’re the only one who can open that door. It’s up to you.”